I would like to continue the article by our colleague Murad, about Ikea, to illustrate a bit the issue of distribution centers.

For me this topic is very difficult so I wanted to take some previous notions of one of the most important logistics giants to try to understand this concept more …

For this I have seen several videos and the one I liked the most is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGky1sK5mA
because it explains clearly how Ikea has the success it has.

I like it especially because it defends the automated model (with robots). Ikea can pack millions of objects of different shapes, sizes, etc. quickly and economically thanks to the robotization of their warehouse.
This video explains it at minute 4.57, that I find it really interesting.
They also say that before robots arrived, all the packaging was done by hand (by person). Look at the difference, guys: 20 packages could pack per hour a person, and now with machines they can pack 720 products per hour. Moreover a machine can take packages of all forms and is more efficient because they work 24/7, 365 days.

Once packaged, the package is sent to distribution centers, ready to be sent anywhere in the world.
They follow the model of flat packaging because they see it as essential to maintain low prices, in order to make the most of the spaces.
 
Something curious about the video is also the 6.28 minute images: there you can see how big it is! 1 km long each corridor and 23 floors high!